HERE’S all you need to know about the competitor that is Tim Raines. In 1991, Raines came over to the American League and the White Sox after a dozen years with the Expos. On Day 1, he squared off against Roger Clemens – Rocket vs. Rock.

“I was one of those guys in the National League that took my time getting into the box,” said Raines, the new manager of the Newark Bears in the Atlantic League. “Roger doesn’t like that. The game is like on his pace. I didn’t know it, so I’m taking my time and all of a sudden I hear Roger out there going: ‘Get in the [stinking] box!’

“I’d been in the majors now for 12 years. I’m no rookie, so I ask the catcher, ‘Is he talkin’ to me?’ He goes, ‘Yes he is.’ I tell the catcher, ‘I don’t appreciate that. He shouldn’t be doing that.’

“Now Roger’s screaming even more: ‘Get in the [stinking] box!’

“So I get out of the box and take a little more time. Finally, I get in and the first pitch is right over my head, knocks me down. I took my time again, and he’s like ‘Get in the box!’ Finally he cools down, I kind of cool down. He throws me a fastball and I hit a line drive right back at his shin. He jumps to avoid it. I get to first base and kind of tip my cap. He looks back at me and tips his.

“It’s funny,” Raines added, “that’s the way I went at the game, I never wanted to be intimidated.”

He was a rock for 23 seasons. That’s the way he will teach his Newark Bears. “My players are definitely going to come to play,” Raines promised.

Someday, Raines, 49, should make the Hall of Fame. He stole 808 bases, fifth-best in major league history, and scored 1,571 runs, 49th best. He was successful on 87.4 percent of his steal attempts, the best mark of anyone with 300 steals.

The Hall will announce its 2009 class Monday. Rickey Henderson is certain to make it and his election should help Raines, who received my vote. Raines was on base more than Tony Gwynn – 3,977 to 3,955. He finished with a career average of .294 and 2,605 hits.

The only switch-hitters to reach base more are Pete Rose, Eddie Murray and Mickey Mantle. That’s one strong list.

“I never really was a stat man,” Raines said. “Maybe if I were more of a stat guy I probably would have tried to achieve some of these things and got in easy, but I always was a team player.”

Raines was married in 2007. Shannon and Tim spent their first year of marriage in Harrisburg, Pa., where Raines was the hitting coach for the Nationals Double-A team, but he decided to take last season off to spend time with his wife back home in Phoenix. He even learned to ski, but now is ready to get back to baseball. His goal is to manage in the majors one day. That’s what brought him to Newark.

The lessons the veteran helped teach a young Derek Jeter during Raines’ championship years with the Yankees (1996-98) still are put into action today by Jeter.

“Derek’s first [full] year was my first year with the Yankees, and he wasn’t even sure he was going to make the team,” Raines recalled. “He was a young guy that had a lot of talent and it was going to take a little time, but I didn’t realize it was going to take like all of two seconds for him to become the player he became.

“The big thing I tried to pass along to him was to make sure you have fun. Playing baseball is like being a kid on the playground, but baseball is a game of ups and downs. You can’t let the downs affect your game.”

Jeter, who always has said Raines never had a bad day, has followed that model.

Raines, a seven-time All-Star, noted that the one player today who most reminds him of his own style of play is Jose Reyes. “Switch-hitter, speed, steal bases, big smile, he’s my type of player,” Raines said.

“I loved facing the top competition, it was like a battle of the titans.”

And like that first duel with Clemens, it was a battle Raines often won.